Michigan store owner sentenced in Food Stamp fraud

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1/12/13, "Store Owner Sentenced In $612,000 Food Stamp Fraud," WWJ/AP, detroit.cbslocal.com

"A federal judge has sentenced a Flint store owner to four years, three months in prison for participating in a $612,000 food stamp fraud scheme.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade says 55-year-old Noha Fofana was sentenced earlier this week for conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud. A jury convicted him in August.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith also ordered Fofana to pay $612,980.96 in restitution to the USDA-Food and Nutrition Service. This amount is to be paid jointly and severally with Fofana’s co-defendant, Akhir K. McFarland....

McQuade says Fofana, the owner of Mandingo African Market, redeemed more than $750,000 in food stamp benefits from February 2009 to July 2011, approximately $612,000 of which was obtained utilizing fraudulent “food stamps-for-cash” exchanges.

State officials calculated that during that same time period, Mandingo’s average food stamp redemption amount was $26,798 per month — compared to an average of $5,479 monthly redemption for other convenience stores in the area."...via Lucianne


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